Odds increasing for heavy, wet snow late Wed.

Winter storm watch extended over entire region

ALERT: 1:15 p.m. - The Winter Storm Watch has been extended by the National Weather Service to cover the entire metro region Wednesday afternoon and night.

From 1:00 p.m. - For the first time this year, the models have been trending toward a snowier solution rather than a less snowy one as the storm approaches. The operational models take a potent upper level disturbance on an almost perfect track to deliver accumulating snow in the D.C. area.

The models still are swinging back and forth about the exact track/intensity of the storm, when a possible changeover from rain to snow occurs, and how much precipitation will fall. But they all indicate snow is likely to be falling by dark Wednesday and that the snow could come down quite heavily Wednesday evening through around midnight. This is potentially a short-lived, but intense event.

Right now it looks like the precipitation might start briefly as light rain or mixed precipitation in the immediate metro area (light snow or mixed precipitation north and west, see zone 2 map below) early Wednesday morning but would change to snow somewhere between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Wednesday. Precipitation during the morning - while capable of producing some slick spots in the normally colder suburbs will probably be more of a nuisance.

By evening, the storm has the potential to become significant and hazardous with wet snow that could lead to trees limbs coming down and power outages if the storm lives up to its potential. This is likely to be a heavy, wet snow with moderate winds developing late Wednesday night.

Below is a graphic indicating what we think the probabilities are for different amounts of snow. We will provide a more detailed and refined accumulation outlook later today. A good first guess would be 3-6" in Zone 1 and 4-8" in Zone 2, but you see the different possibilities. Upward or downward adjustments are certainly possible, if not likely.

Zone accumulation outlook.

Note: the dashed lines indicate the transition area between zone 1 and zone 2. Areas in that area are about equally likely to fall in either zone.

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

The model runs based on data available at 7PM last night predicted anywhere from 0.75"(the GFS) to 1.25" (the European model) of liquid equivalent. The American models were colder in the low levels than the European model but it has a known bias of being too warm near and just above the earth's surface.

The later model runs from the U.S. models were not as aggressive in terms of precipitation, especially the NAM but it has been vacillating more than the other models. This morning's NAM trended back to a wetter snowier solution predicting more than an inch of liquid equivalent. That's why we indicate non-trivial probabilities of getting more than 8".

The 6-hourly precipitation forecasts from the NAM are shown above. The blue line on the image is the freezing line at around 5000 ft (850 mb). Note how even though one low tries to move east another hangs back along the coast at 1 a.m. Thursday as it responds to the strong mid-level circulation center that moves across our area. The strong dynamics and upward motion being forecast at the time when the heavy snow falls suggests there is an outside chance of thundersnow somewhere in the area. .

This morning's NAM was one of the more aggressive at changing the rain to snow quickly. It suggests rain at 1 p.m. on Wednesday but is clearly predicting snow by 4 p.m. The sounding (atmospheric profile from the surface through above cloud level) below shows the temperatures aloft at 4 p.m. being below freezing in D.C.

The red line on the figure above (the sounding) gives you the vertical temperature structure of the atmosphere. On the figure, all the temperatures to the left of the slanted blue line are below freezing. The sounding has one other interesting feature. Right where the red line bends away from the blue line there is a weak unstable layer that does suggest there could be some convection - which could support thundersnow.

This morning's Canadian model (GGEM) has also come in wet and snowy and argues that this storm has the potential to produce a significant snowstorm. This model along with the NAM suggest that the winter storm watch that was posted for the western suburbs may be extended eastward to include the city and points east later this afternoon. This morning's GFS joined the dance and has a well-defined mid level circulation by 7 a.m. tomorrow morning aimed at our area. It argues for a changeover from rain to snow in D.C. around 4 p.m. but the changeover would occur first over the western suburbs where the precipitation could actually start as snow with the changeover working eastward towards Washington during the afternoon.

Bottom line: This storm the models are in rare agreement. This is looking more and more like a significant snowstorm.

(Capital Weather Gang's Jason Samenow contributed to this report, and received input from five other CWG meteorologists)

Either snow or a mix or plain rain depending upon where you are tomorrow morning. Transitioning to snow from North/West to South/East during the day, but not a heavy downfall. By tomorrow evening, all snow possibly everywhere and coming down quite hard?

If this is correct, a lot of folks will have decisions to make about work/school tomorrow. Yuck! But awesome too.

Weather Channel still calls for a 90% chance of rain tomorrow and NWS has no winter storm watch for most of the area. At least they revised the high temperatures today from near 50 to the lower 40s. Keep it cold.

How does the sounding posted in the article above compare with the soundings on severe wx days from last summer? In particular, the morning storm in July that roared out of MoCo into the District and exploded over us? I seem to recall a sounding was posted here for that event.

I am trying to see the feature on the temperature plot (red line) that indicates the instability. Is it the degree to which it diverges from the 0C line?

TWC website is still a giant mess. Article on front page states 4-8 but forecast for 20009 still says rain. Guessing this will all look different in the next few hours. Hopefully the other local news outlets change forecasts appropriately for evening newscasts. When are the next bunch of models coming out??

ennepe68, the sounding is much different and only has a weak conditionally unstable layer where the slope of the temperature line is a little more slanted than the curved green line. Severe weather soundings are much more unstable and usually have a dry layer in the mid levels. One other aspect of the sounding above is the dry how he temperature and dewpoint lines separate a little above that layer which sometimes is a reflection that the convective parameterization scheme has kicked in. With such strong vertical motion and heavy precipitation that seems to be a reasonable guess.

I'm curious about thundersnow? Is it like having a bad T-storm just with snow? Are we actually going to hear thunder? I live in Loudoun county BTW RIGHT next to IAD. Hearing the bullseye will be right on top of us.

WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!
"the storm has the potential to become significant and hazardous with wet snow that could lead to trees limbs coming down and power outages"
AWWRIIIGGHHT!! That's what I'm talking about!!!!1111

It must be swell to be able to love snowstorms and, at the same time, ignore their consequences.

After somehow managing to survive last year's winter without a snow shovel (turns out lightweight cutting boards are pretty handy for shoveling snow off your car roof!), my husband and I finally bought one this fall. Glad we'll finally be able to put that puppy to use! Bring on the snow!

CWG - A friend is getting married on Saturday in DC with family/friends coming into town on Friday. How will tomorrow's storm affect her plans, if at all? Thank you again for all the awesome forecasting.

New to CWG this winter season, and definitely a little obsessed. Not only with their frequent updates, but I love reading everyone else's thoughts and opinions. My question is for CWG, hopefully you can answer this....How does this storm (and confidence level) compare to the Christmas weekend storm we totally missed? Christmas night they were calling for 6-10 inches, then we woke up and not so much as a dusting! What's different? Thanks :)

Wes - right or wrong...you always provide an outstanding analysis of the odds and the key elements in these forecasts...I really enjoyed yet another post. Thanks! I'm still highly skeptical of this one...while hoping for a foot. KRUZ - Sorry man, for your sake, only, I hope for rain.

im not buying and really hope for a bust. it feels like dec. 26th deja vu! i know its gonna snow alot, but id love to see the warm air win out and the tools err models be wrong in the end, especially east of DC inside the beltway!

OK, so I live in Sterling but work in Bethesda. I imagine I'd be OK going to work in the morning, but how about later in the day? Should I prepare myself for a treacherous ride or should I perhaps leave earlier than my 6pm closing time? Advice? Oh, and I drive.

Yes...it's basically a thunderstorm with snow...occasionally with snowbursts dropping one to as much as FOUR inches per hour!

Happens on occasion in the Great Lakes or mountainous areas such as the Rockies, Cascades or Sierra Nevada.

Around here, thundersnow events tend to occur when temperatures are just below freezing and there is powerful very deep or rapidly intensifying low pressure. Basically what's needed is a trigger for rapid violent convection, something which is rather rare during the winter months.

Actually snow and/or ice crystals are a prerequisite for ALL lightning formation or cloud electrification during thunderstorms. The difference during the summer months is that the snowflakes and ice crystals are generally four to eight miles above our heads during the warm season, so that when they fall, the warmer air underneath melts them to rain before they reach the ground. During the winter, the lack of sufficient convective triggers generally inhibits thunderstorm formation. Occasionally violent convection in winter can be induced by rapid storm intensification [bombogenesis], lake-effect forcing from warmer water underneath, sudden frontal lifting or orographic forcing when moist air flows over a mountain range. The result of sudden violent convective forcing with temperatures below freezing is thundersnow.

This storm is different from the Christmas storm because we're not on the edge of the precipitation. It would be much harder for this one to miss us. The main thing that could cause this storm to underperform would be temperatures that would be too warm bringing more rain in some spots. But guidance has been trending colder. Still a close call especially from DC east.

So, if we're looking at a total of about 0.80" to 1.00" liquid equivalent, how much of that is likely to fall as rain during the opening volley? I mean are we looking at half an inch of rain followed by 3 to 5 inches of snow, or is most of that likely to come down as snow?

Also, does the fact that it is "wet" snow mean that you get fewer inches of snow per inch of liquid equivalent?

Great question. The farther west you are in the metro region, the more of that 0.8 liquid which is in the form of snow. But this is where the greatest uncertainty probably is.

And yes, that it's going to be a wet snow does mean you get fewer inches of snow per liquid equivalent. Not only that, but the relatively warm ground will initially cut back on how much snow per unit of liquid equivalent. But as the snow increases in intensity and temps drop, the ratios go up. Wes is actually an expert on this stuff, so I'm hoping he can elaborate.

It won't matter if the roads are just wet or covered in snow, the mere sight of snow flakes will send DC area drivers into a panic resulting in massive delays during the evening rush tomorrow. I am anticipating a 2 hour + commute from DC to Springfield/Lorton tomorrow if the roads are just wet and its snowing. A 3 hour + commute if there is any snow on the roads at all.

I find it interesting that roads will be so warm. It was below freezing for 3 days. Ground is a solid, it holds more energy than air, and would take longer to heat up or cool down. There is some sun out today, so I guess that helps. But temperatures will also go back below freezing tonight, which would coo them some also.

the amount that snow accumulates depends on lots of various things, ground temperature, snowflake type and size. These flakes should be large aggregates (large is good) but also probably have a decent amount of riming and water content (wet flakes,which is bad for getting high ratios) especially during the 1st half of the snowfall. I'd guess that ratios would be below 10-1 but that's strictly a guess. Much depends on how hard it snow and how much the surface temperature cools which may vary across the region. I would guess the ratios would be highest to the west and lowest to the east.

Can anyone remind me who made the awesome snow sculptures from last year? Were they over off Duke near King Street Metro? Also remember some pics of some in a yard. Hoping we'll get enough snow this year to see them again!

CWG-thanks for the details! Keep it up!

Any thoughts on Thursday morning...unfortunately OR's don't usually have delayed openings for weather...no time off for weather!

I believe some winter weather forecasts made back in November indicated that we'd probably get 1 snowfall this winter of the size this one is forecast to be, and several smaller ones similar to what we've gotten thus far.

Will bring heavy weather gear with me to work tomorrow. Must be prepared to shove several inches of wet slushy snow off of car, while standing in several inches of wet slushy snow, while wet slushy snow comes down hard all around me.

Ya'll ready?
This *might* be the most significant snowfall of the winter, so be prepared to make the most of whatever you want to do with it.

@CWG: Any comments on not getting up to the forecast highs for the day? I'm at 36 here in Annapolis (2pm) but our forecast high was 44.

I'd anticipate that works in our favor for more snow in Zone 1. The 10am update did mention that perhaps the accumulations east of I-95 would trump those to the west but that seemed to have changed by the time the Zones went up.

According to the Weather Channel, DC itself is said to get 4-8" with 25% chance of a foot (New York gets the same.)

When you click onto Weather.com, the first headline you see now is "DC, Baltimore may get hit hard", which whether you like it or not is a definite change from so far this season when Philly/NY/Boston got hit hard and DC/MD/VA got a glancing blow at most.

I experienced the most amazing thundersnow when living in Moscow. Driving winds, white out, snow practically raining past the window and THUNDER AND LIGHTENING. Lasted about 20 minutes and then went back to regular, light snow. It was amazing! I think thundersnow is kinda cool (when I watch from inside). I'll keep an ear out tomorrow.

@motherrunner, regarding your question on the snow sculptures, the ever-talented "walter-in-fallschurch" who frequents CWG is the man behind the snow sculptures built in his (presumably) Falls Church yard. Not sure about the person(s) behind the Alexandria snow sculptures...

Good question about Frederick and Washington Co. You might not get the heaviest precip, but because it's colder there, will accumulate better. If the storm tracked a bit east of where currently forecast, yes- there is the possibility you'd just get a little snow.

Okay so this patient grasshoppa did some work the last 1.5hrs and swore off the blog, instead of hitting RE-FREAKING-FRESH every 10 seconds...and lo and behold i come back to see my area is zone one...i love the zone diverders. Helps non-techie's like me very much!

Okay so this patient grasshoppa did some work the last 1.5hrs and swore off the blog, instead of hitting RE-FREAKING-FRESH every 10 seconds...and lo and behold i come back to see my area is zone one...i love the zone dividers. Helps non-techie's like me very much!

Micheal_Nguyen, at the onset, the snow will be pretty heavy and wet so blowing/drifting won't be prevalent. Towards the end it may dry out a bit and winds pick up but nothing that would be too significant.

Has anyone else noticed how close the outskirts of the storm are to the area when looking at the radar? Any chance this thing arrives early before the cold air reinforcements and screws all of this up?

if you are looking for feed-back on your storm data presentation, here it is: GREAT i love the late-night blogs, very nice for people who wish they could do more than see "pretty colors" when they look at a model... ALSO, i find your zone forecasts to be FAR more comprehensible than "OH.. NORTH-WEST-ISH...".... GREAT JOB!!!
anyway this turns out, you'll have at least one happy reader here.

The accuweather local forecast (even on the professional site) is bordering on irresponsible at this point. They have 1.9 inches forecasted for our area and probably less south. Given all the model data and consensus, that needs to be updated. Many people depend on those local forecasts as opposed to models and boards such as this one.

i don't know who made that "car in a parking space" sculpture in alexandria last year. i really liked that one. what a great idea... the other "great idea" one i saw last year was the "2 feet of snow"...on a city street somewhere. oh, i wish ida thought of that!

i am so dreading the next round of model runs. i don't see how they could get much better. the track is almost perfect. i love how it "goes blue" right over us. there's a moment there where we're the best place for snow in the country.

For DC, we're likely to see 1"-3" of accumulation by Wednesday night with 3"-6" in our northern and western suburbs from Gaithersburg to Fairfax. There will be some places from Frederick to Leesburg back to the Blue Ridge that could pick up 6"-8" or more. There is also the potential that the heavier snow bands could impact areas south of town and with that, The NWS has issued a Winter Storm Watch for the entire area for Wednesday and Wednesday night.

WJLA Channel 7...

We're now tentatively predicting a more significant snowfall tomorrow with 4 to 7 inches north and west of the city, and 2 to 5 in the city, and south and east.

WRCTV Channel 4...

Right now the indications are that we could get 1-3 inches of snow around the D.C. metro area and 3-6 inches west and north of Washington before ending late Wednesday night.

@Michael_Nguyen... STOP reading/watching TWC. Their site is updated by computers. Updates are not timely. They were completely clueless about our little area until a couple of hours ago. You've got to rely on the CWG guys or live folks on the internet at this point. Pretty soon, we just sit back and watch the radar and hope for the best, depending on whatever outcome you're looking for.

Sorry to be one of those folks who tells others what to do. I normally don't do that. But I've noticed your frustration with lack of agreement among the various media outlets and wanted to chime in. Remember at this point we are about 24 hours away from the meat of the storm.

I don't think schools close to the District will close tomorrow, but my kids would be delighted w/an early dismissal. And if the timing moves up so that we expect snow in the PM, that seems likely.

What's interesting is that so far WTOP isn't pushing this--it's not the top story or anything like that. Are other media doing the same? Did the December 26 failure scare them off?

Either way, I've already been to the grocery store for whatever I might need tomorrow and Thursday and I'm risking jinxing things by asking my husband to get my cherished old Flexible Flyer sled from storage. But I'll take the risk rather than risk the wrath of my 11 year old if the snow comes and she can't go sledding!

Wow...locals are being very conservative. If DC ends up with 6-12 there will be some answering to do. Although my guess is they are just waiting on tonight's models to tell them what to do in terms of #s.

@MVPlaya8120: That's exactly what the TV mets are doing, that way it doesn't look like they busted. (Like no one will notice they're going from "mostly rain" to "1-3" to "3-6" and hopefully more). Also, they love to say things like "keep checking back with us as all the details are not yet in" when, in fact, the details are mostly in at this point!

Went to the store and hear WTOP on the radio..your correct..WTOP seems to be downplaying it pretty well..the forecast is pretty brief and general..rain and SOME snow for WED is all there saying....HMMMM...

That's from Bastardi? Sounds like Accuweather can't get even internal agreement. They say "1.8 inches of snow on the way" for Baltimore and "0.57 inches of rain on the way" for DC, plus "A little snow ending in the evening, accumulating a coating to an inch."

@BobMiller2--interesting that Bob Ryan is coming back. I did think Doug Hill looked a little lonely last night! I wonder if Topper is headed back too. Seems like they really need some leadership in the WUSA wx dept.

For the people that are saying some forecasts are off and not updated, you have to realize that a lot of sites do not manually update their forecasts with the frequency that users @CWG check them. Users here are constantly checking forecasts every minute -- you can't expect them to update that quickly.

In time they will all start to line up with one general forecast - SNOW

The 18Z nam pretty much stayed the course forecasting around an inch of liquid equivalent across the area but predicting .75 across the western suburbs in a 6 hour period. It also suggests that west of the city almost all the precipitation will fall as snow.

UH OH as in models keep trending higher, with one of them spitting out 15-17 inches (if using a straight 10-1 ration for an all snow event, which it shows) and even the new EURO coming around to the colder, snowier conclusion the rest of them are coming to. Japanese also shows over 1 inch (10 inches using same criteria above) and colder event.

New NAM (just in as of 320 pm) shows a convective band of INTENSE proportion over us at midnight, with a total QPF of 1-1.25 inches over the entire area. No wonder tv mets have taken their accumulation totals off the board- they can't keep up since they keep going up with every model run!

@BobMiller2--interesting that Bob Ryan is coming back. I did think Doug Hill looked a little lonely last night! I wonder if Topper is headed back too. Seems like they really need some leadership in the WUSA wx dept.

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Unfortunately, other than Topper, the WUSA weather department is not what it used to be. I heard from a reliable source that the new news director this past year felt that the weather team had too many white men, which is why Devon Lucie was booted out and Anny Hong (who is okay, but not great) came aboard. It looks like they are only sticking with three people on their team (Topper, Anny and Howard), so hopefully no one ever gets sick or wants to take a vacation. Sad that some people feel that race/gender is more important than actual qualifications. Anyway, it wouldn't surprise me to see Topper come back - I think it was two or three years ago when he bailed out of a family vacation in Colorado to come back and cover a winter storm.

169 comments during an upcoming snow event and only 3 (boarderline 4) "I have some not very unimportant event (insert day) at (insert time). Should I cancel?!" Glad to see CWG readers are actually taking time to read the articles instead of demanding answers from a comment section. There is hope yet.

@thepostischeap: And after WUSA booted Devon Lucie, he shows up a week ago on WJLA. (I can't remember if he was filling in on the weekend or if it was on their digital weather channel.) Thus continuing JLA's smart move of buying up frustrated/unappreciated talent in the area.

ounanm1, we don't have safe hotels. You run a 50/50 risk of getting brutally murdered just walking down the street minding your own business.

Just kidding. Pick any hotel in 20910 and it's not more than ten minutes by car or bus from WRAMC. I promise you won't get mugged or shot. You might have a homeless person ask you for a dollar. Look out.

I for one don't like how all the mets are jumping around from station to station. Bob Ryan leaving ch. 4 was devastating. I don't care for Devon Lucie. I'm just glad that Bob is still on the air. The thing that bothered me was that his departure broke up Washington's best news team. I do, however, like how the former ch. 9 newscasters are on 7 now, Peterson, Bunyan and Hill, but they couldn't ever beat Vance, Gentzler, and Ryan.

I'm excited for this snow, and I'm a teacher working in southern MOCO. That being said I see no way the schools close tomorrow (although they may let out early) and if the event ends by midnight tomorrow this should be an easier clearing for the road crews than normal. My prediction is that unless you live in Frederick or Fauqier County you should do your homework. I like the half day we dont have to make it up.....indeed.....

Also I cant help but laugh at the guy who wants to see the Zone Two line move a few hundred feet so he can get more snow. Its as if one side of the street gets 6-12 and the other side gets 1-3 with rain. Perhaps he should get a place on the other side of the road if he wants optimal snow...I love it!

Someone waaay upthread asked about airports....I would suspect at the minimum that most aircraft scheduled to overnight will not come in and the associated first departures in the morning will not operate. A lot will depend on the airport itself and the individual carriers deice capability...DCA with one main runway might have more issues than IAD with multiple....IAD can clean one and still have another working at the same time. Late afternoon flts Weds may be iffy depending on accumulation, temps, and deice capability.

I for one don't like how all the mets are jumping around from station to station. Bob Ryan leaving ch. 4 was devastating. I don't care for Devon Lucie. I'm just glad that Bob is still on the air. The thing that bothered me was that his departure broke up Washington's best news team. I do, however, like how the former ch. 9 newscasters are on 7 now, Peterson, Bunyan and Hill, but they couldn't ever beat Vance, Gentzler, and Ryan.

Posted by: BobMiller2
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I agree Bob, if they ever lose Vance & Gentzler for any reason, I guess I'll jump ship to 7. I'm glad Ryan & Arch Campbell found new homes on ABC7.

I feel like we rarely see this; I'm getting a 4-8 type forecast from the gang, 5-9 from the NWS, and 4-8 from TWC. Accu-weather is giving me 2-5. But all the local stations are calling for rain, still, and are saying MAYBE 1-3 inches. I feel like they're usually the one's screaming FIRE! FIRE!

D.C. city streets are not at freezing, thus, initial snow is not expected to draw any accumulation on them. As we move into the nighttime hours and the temperatures drop, we will begin to see some street accumulation. However, because the storm is expected to end somewhere around 12, the majority of the accumulation will likely be on less traveled sidewalks and grassy areas.

City crews, who will be fully deployed, will have all night to treat what little does accumulate on the streets to enable a reasonably smooth commute Thursday morning.

There are some comments which I think are misleading in regard to thunder snow. It's not just summertime type thunderstorms in winter, but rather something know as "slantwise" (not vertical) convection. I can't address this any further now, but I commented on this in my recent post on the Winter Weather Experiment

More later if still a question

Andrew Freedman will be posting soon an interview with Dr. Louis Uccellini done at the AMS meeting on the potential snowstorm and broader background material. Stay tuned

Ducked out of work early to do routine grocery shopping, before the non-CWG-reading public catches wind of the updated forecast and strips the stores bare! Nice to be ahead of the curve.

Also, ounanm1, I second random-adam's recommendations for hotels. The Marriott or the Crowne Plaza are particularly nice (as well as the Hilton, which isn't one of their fancier ones, so probably more affordable than you'd think), and they're located right on or near Georgia Ave.
GA Ave always gets cleared first in a snow event, and it's an easy zip down to Walter Reed.
I'd avoid the Comfort Inn and the Traveleodge, though, if safety is a concern over cost. Certainly not deadly, but possibly a bit outside the comfort zone if you're already nervous.

This winter has cheated me so many times, I'm not going to be getting my hopes up until I see the white stuff. And I did have to burn an annual day on that ice storm. . .but still -- come on sledding weather! We're itching to hit the hill!

I have lived in a snow climate for my entire forty-something years. Most MUCH worse than this one. But you wouldn't know it the way citizens here react to the whisper to snow. You would think we were in Birmingham, AL. Do you know that there in many parts of the country it is business as usual and there is no less than 6 inches of snow on the ground throughout the winter season. Life continues, as normal, to includes schools. They don't miss a beat for anything less than a prediction of 8 inches or more. Maybe this is why I can't get as excited, or bothered, as others.

Cmon don't be a party pooper let us have our fun here. This is much deserved for snow lovers in this area who have been rather disappointed by this season's very meager snowfall so far. And also, a great thing about this area is that we are rather unadapted at handling bad weather, which means more school closings :)

I've finished cursing and screaming now, so I can agree that the people who love snow have waited patiently through half our winter for a significant snow and deserve thier moment. Can't wait to leave my job at 6:00 PM tomorrow and flip a coin to decide if I want to chance being killed by a falling tree limb if I do the suburban route home or merely sit on I-495 for several hours while people who can't drive have panic attacks, and maybe get killed when a sliding semi-trailer rear-ends me. Then there will be the sheer joy or arising early to see if the executives will call a late arrival or snow day, whereupon I can commence shoveling wet heavy snow with one bad shoulder before trying to get to work, where all the stay at homes will call me for last year's insurance premiums while doing their taxes next to a cozy fire, while I worry if my pets have heat at home. Yippee. Excuse me, I feel another screaming fit coming on. Enjoy, my little snowfriends. It is your turn.